Year 4 blog:

Maths:

This half term, in Year 4 we have been developing children’s understanding of addition and subtraction. They have been consolidating their understanding of column method, particularly focussing on understanding exchanging and using the inverse operation to check. We have also built on conceptual understanding by using part-part whole and comparative bar models, which support in deciding what strategy to use.

Our next topic is multiplication. In this topic, children will apply their times tables facts to use the grid and short method to multiply.

The children have been making good progress with their times tables facts, which will be invaluable in supporting their success with this topic. The Year 4 teachers have been impressed to see some of the children going on Times Table Rockstars at home to help improve their speed of recall. Please see the website if you are unfamiliar with this. https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student

Writing:

Moving on from our work on characterisation last half term, we are now working on tension building within a superhero narrative. The children have designed their own superheroes and have been practising using a range of features to build tension, such as: long and short sentences, ellipses, show me don’t tell me, and exclamation marks. Some children still need to secure some basic features such as capitalisation and fullstops, which are essential to achieve the expected standard for year 4. We are also working on ensuring handwriting is consistently cursive and legible. Please do speak to a class teacher if you would like to see some examples of the expected standard of handwriting.

The next topic in writing will be based on Wallace and Gromit’s ‘Cracking Contraptions’, creating a persuasive advert to sell a gadget.

Science:

Our topic this half term is electricity. The children are very much enjoying exploring the different circuit materials and considering how they can use these to make a bulb light up. We have deepened their scientific skills when planning their own experiments and writing conclusions from these. The children had the opportunity to test out which objects conduct electricity and which did not, linking this to their previous understanding of different materials. We will be deepening this understanding further in the coming weeks.

Within this topic, we have also discussed the dangers of electricity and how the children can ensure they are staying safe both at home and at school.

History:

In History this term, we are looking at the Roman invasion of Britain. The children thoroughly enjoyed their Roman Day, and have gained a vast wealth of contextual knowledge through their research.

We have been able to identify the causes of the Roman  invasion and make a judgement about the most influential factor. For the rest of the topic, we will be looking at Boudicca as an influential figure, and evaluating the legacy of the Romans. This will help us to answer our Big Question: “What was the impact of the Romans on Britain?”

R.E.:

R.E continues to be a central theme across our learning. We have been developing the children’s understanding of Catholic Social Teachings, concentrating on human dignity, solidarity, the common good, and option for the poor. As part of this topic, we looked at the papal encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’.The Gospel story at the heart of Fratelli Tutti is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’s provocative story of the foreigner who acts as a true neighbour to the man robbed and beaten by the side of the road. This moves us to respond to our sister or brother in need, whoever they are, wherever they may come from. We are challenged to turn outwards, to act as neighbours, and to reach out to all those who are in need. As we move into the season of Advent, our focus is at looking at how the Old Testament prophets predicted the advent of Jesus, looking deeper at the life of King David. This is to enable the children to gain a fuller understanding of the role of the Messiah.